Ark Royal was a foundation for later British protected-carrier thinking rather than a finished armoured-hangar solution. Her flight deck showed that a carrier could carry major structural weight high in the hull if the rest of the design balanced it. She still retained a large, strike-oriented air group instead of surrendering aviation capacity altogether. The Yorktown design supplied groundwork for the Midway class by coupling a powerful aviation strike with a ship built strongly enough for repeated action. The two later carrier families emerged from different balances of strike power, structural weight, and survivability.
Notable Point · 9:52-11:20
Ark Royal and Yorktown as stepping stones to later carriers
Ark Royal helped establish the British route toward armoured carriers, while Yorktown supplied a design foundation for the later Midway class.